1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a preparation, a transparent plate, a method for producing a preparation, slide glass, an imaging apparatus, an imaging method, a preparation producing apparatus, and a preparation component set.
2. Description of the Related Art
In pathological diagnosis, for the purpose of making a definitive diagnosis or the progression of a lesion, tissue is cut from an internal organ or a tumor and is then examined. In this case, the tissue is further cut into a thin section (slice) having a thickness of about a few or several micrometers (μm) so that it can be examined with a microscope, and is then sandwiched between glass slips. In this manner, a slide (specimen) used for pathological diagnosis is prepared. Pathological diagnosis is essential to determine, for example, whether a cancer is benign or malignant. Therefore, in one hospital, hundreds of specimens are prepared for pathological diagnosis per day. Unlike radiographic images, pathology specimens are difficult to store in the form of digital data. Because of this reason, generally, prepared specimens per se are stored semipermanently so that they can be examined later.
Hitherto, microscopes are used for examining the microstructure of living tissue, for example. The microscope magnifies, by using a lens, an image of an object formed by light passing through or being reflected by the object. An operator directly views the magnified image formed by light passing through or being reflected by the object. If a digital microscope which captures a magnified image of an object by using a camera and displays the captured image on a display is used, more than one operator can examine the same image at the same time, and also, the image can be examined at a remote place. The camera is placed at an imaging point and captures an image magnified by the lens of the microscope.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 4-316478 discloses a technology for examining the microstructure by using a contact image sensing (CIS) method. In the CIS method, an object is directly placed on the surface of an image sensor, and then, the object is imaged. In the CIS method, a lens for magnifying an image is not used. Accordingly, the resolution is determined by the pixel size of the image sensor. That is, as the pixel size is smaller, a more precise image of the microstructure can be captured.